No. 22 Florida Atlantic wins 5th straight with victory over Rice
The Florida High School Athletic Association released the final districts for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years late Tuesday afternoon.
THE FHSAA board of directors voted in December to change the format from Metro and Suburban classes to seven classes — plus one rural class — determined solely by school enrollment.
The Metro and Suburban classes lasted just two years but produced four firsttime state champions — Berkeley Prep, First Baptist Academy, Hawthorne and Lake Wales — as well as some thrilling title games with nine contests being decided by a single score.
Here are some quick thoughts on the new districts and classes.
Apopka, Lake Mary and Seminole were the headliners for one of the state’s toughest districts the past two years. Now, two of them will have to wait until the state semifinals to face off for playoff glory. Rivals Lake Mary and Seminole are in District 3-7A, but Apopka was placed in Region 5-7A, which means it will be in a different region in the postseason.
Traditional heavyweights Apopka and Venice have combined to make seven state championship game appearances since 2017, including Venice’s 35-7 win against the Blue Darters in the Class 8A championship in 2021. The teams both will be in Region 2-7A for the next two years.
Buchholz and Bartram Trail have met in the regional championship game the past two years and once again are in the same district (3-6A). Getting to the regional final will get tougher now that Mandarin, the 2023 Class 4M state runner-up, also is in Region 1.
District 8-6A should be very competitive
HOUSTON – Nick Boyd scored 18 points, Johnell Davis added 14 points and nine rebounds and No. 22 Florida Atlantic extended its winning streak to five games with a 69-56 victory over Rice on Wednesday night.
Boyd scored 11 points in the first half as FAU built a 33-26 halftime lead. Davis and Boyd combined to shoot 10 of 17 from the field.
“Just taking open shots and they went in,” Boyd said. “We’re starting to find our groove a little bit, but I think we are light years away from where we’re going to be really soon.”
Alijah Martin added 14 points and eight rebounds for FAU (16-4, 6-1 American Athletic Conference), which outrebounded Rice 43-34 and held a 36-14 advantage in points in the paint. The Owls shot 44%.
“I feel like we’re playing much better than we did a month ago,” FAU coach Dusty May said. “We had a really productive pre-conference (schedule) where we played at a high level. We just didn’t do it as consistently as we needed to, and we’re still learning how difficult it is every single night getting a great effort from these conference opponents.”
Alem Huseinovic scored 16 points and Mekhi Mason added 13 for Rice (7-12, 1-5). The Owls, who have lost six of their last seven, shot 35%. Max Fiedler had 18 rebounds and eight assists.
Rice coach Scott Pera pointed to the Owls’ defensive effort to keep FAU, which averages 84 points per game, to 69.
“Losing stinks,” Pera said. “I am disgusted thoroughly, but I also have some level of hope and encouragement because that was our best defensive effort with Armwood, Plant, Sickles and Wharton. Plant was a state semifinalist in Class 4M last year. Armwood beat Wharton 20-14 in the regional quarterfinal last season.
Lakeland, which won the Class 4S state championship the past two years, gets an interesting addition to District 6-5A in Sebring. The Blue Streaks were a regional finalist in Class 3S last season (losing to eventual state champion Mainland) and were a state semifinalist in 2021. The district also includes Kathleen and Lake Gibson.
Region 2-5A could be one of the best of the year.”
Rice closed within 33-29 to open the second half, but FAU responded with an 11-2 run to extend its lead to 44-31 lead on a layup by Davis with 16 minutes remaining.
Trailing 51-39 with 10½ minutes remaining, Rice used a 9-2 spurt to cut the lead to five on a jumper by Mason with 6:45 left.
“We had got the looks we wanted; we got to the foul line; we had a chance to keep it close, cut it closer, make it closer and we missed six free throws in the second half,” Pera said. “That makes it hard.”
Rice would get no closer than five, and FAU scored five straight points to increase its lead to 62-52 with 3:12 left on a 3-pointer by Martin. in the state. The list includes Edgewater (District 5), Lakeland (District 6), Gaither (District 7) and Tampa Bay Tech (District 8). In addition to Lakeland’s postseason success, Gaither was a regional champion in Class 3M, while Edgewater and Tampa Bay Tech both lost one-score games to eventual state semifinal Jones in the regional playoffs last year.
Jones, which has won back-to-back regional championships in Class 3M, and Lake Wales, which had a 27-game win streak snapped in the regional championship game in Class 3S, will both be in District 7-4A.
Big picture
FAU: The Owls defeated Rice for the sixth time in their last seven matchups. … FAU avoided another Quad 4 loss improving to 5-1. … The Owls improved to 3-2 on the road and 11-2 when leading at the half this season.
Rice: The Owls have lost 27 straight against ranked opponents. Rice’s last win over a ranked opponent was Jan. 30, 1999, when the Owls defeated No. 24 TCU 76-69. Rice dropped to 0-3 against ranked opponents this season.
Up next
FAU: Hosts North Texas on Sunday. Rice: Hosts Tulsa on Saturday.
Region 5-2A also makes the shortlist for the toughest region in the state. The lineup includes Bradford (District 5, 2023 Class 2S state runner-up), Cocoa (District 6, 2022 and 2023 Class 2S champion), Berkeley Prep (District 8, 2023 Class 2M champion) as well as Clearwater-Calvary Christian and Tampa Catholic.
Rivals Benjamin and Cardinal Newman remain in the same district (12-1A) and will be joined in their region by First Baptist Academy. The Lions won the 2022 Class 1S state championship and were a state semifinalist last season.
The Florida State Board of Trustees approved an unspecified internal loan from the university to the athletic programs in a virtual meeting Wednesday at Augustus B. Turnbull III Florida State Conference Center.
The internal loan would allow the use of unreserved cash from non-athletic auxiliaries to be used for
athletics in “non-capital strategic initiatives.”
The motion passed unanimously and will be brought to the Board of Governors at a 10:45 a.m. meeting Wednesday.
Kyle Clark, the Senior VP for Finance & Administration, spoke for athletics to get the approval.
No amount was indicated for the loan or what the funds would be used for. But if the funds are used, a report would be made available by athletics.
The Board of Governors changed its rules recently when it comes to loans, which led to the discussion at FSU today. This was a procedural set-up move to future potential moves.
After amounting to a $10.3 million surplus in 2022, the Seminoles’ athletics department operated at a $2.57 million deficit in 2023, according to reports obtained by USA TODAY Sports in partnership with the Knight-Newhouse Data project at Syracuse University.
FSU operating expenses in 2023 for 20 sports (nine men, 11 women) were around $172.1 million ($172,130,700) compared to total operating revenues of just under $170 million ($169,558,790), for the university’s fiscal year, which runs from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023.
The athletic’s future with the Atlantic Coast Conference is also uncertain moving forward, as the board of trustees voted unanimously to sue the ACC to challenge the legality of the league’s grant of rights and its $130 million withdrawal fee. The ACC has since countersued FSU.
No school has ever challenged a grant of rights in court.
Football head coach Mike Norvell agreed to a new eight-year contract that will pay him $10 million annually in mid-January following his name being tied to the open Alabama head coaching position. Details of the contract have not yet been released.
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